1. Almonds. High in the antioxidant vitamin E, these flavorful nuts help prevent achy muscles. Their protein and fiber keep your tummy from growling on runs, too.
And they’re portable! Grab a handful for your morning snack up to five times per week.
2. Oranges. Running can damage muscles, and oranges are an excellent source of vitamin C, a nutrient that helps them heal.
Vitamin C can also help you absorb more iron, an important mineral that helps prevent fatigue and low energy. Eat an orange or drink 8 ounces of orange juice every day.
3. Sweet potatoes. This tasty veggie ranks high in energy-supplying carbs and beta carotene, plus minerals like potassium and magnesium, which runners lose through sweating. A medium-size sweet potato has only about 100 calories; two to three times a week, eat one.
4. Tuna. To help repair muscles after a workout, runners need about 60 to 90 grams of protein per day. (That’s more than nonrunners need.)
Tuna is an easy source—just 4 ounces can supply around half your daily protein requirement (about the same as 2 cups of black beans)—and is full of heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids.
Eat 4 ounces of canned light, water-packed tuna twice a week.
Jenny Hadfield is our Girls Gotta Move Running Club coach and a certified personal trainer.
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Comments (22)
great post!
It’s hard to find good oranges in winter time in Wisconsin. I wonder if canned madrian oranges have the same bennifits (with more sodium)?
DO cocoa covered almonds count?
100% orange juice (not from concentrate) is the ideal alternative when fresh oranges are not available. I make smoothies with orange juice, banana, frozen pineapple, non-fat yogurt, and a scoop of protein powder. Great to start the day or have at the end of a workout.
Tuna and other such fish often contain high levels of mercury. One sees warnings at the grocery store all the time. I don’t think excessive levels of mercury are going to help my health very much.
Why on earth would the writer recommend such a toxic fish?
Bruno, have you ever heard the phrase “everything in moderation?” I think that was what the writer was thinking. But, you’re right, you probably shouldn’t eat tuna for every meal every day!
Not only that, but chunk light tuna does not contain very much mercury at all, it is actually the more expensive tuna, albacore that contains a lot, ironically. Look it up on a google search and you will see
I live out in the country, so when our high school track team goes on runs we always snag a few oranges from the growers. All of them are real cool about it though, and will sometimes even leave pitchers of water out there for us.
Another good one is (drink) drinking coconut water after a run.
Lots of good stuff in there.
I have been eating fish for years and have no side effects. Tuna Salmon are very good for you. I would not recommend eating these twice a day, but the writer said twice a week. I usually eat it three to four times a week. Again these are very healthy for you.
how could you eat so much fish?
great tips just thought i would let you know the guys like your site lol
Excelent post. Running is such a great exercise that there are not very many overweight runners but if you are a runner and you need to loose weight please check this article in my blog: http://pierdelapanza.blogspot.com/2008/12/baja-la-panza-corriendo.html
An enlightening post. Well done.
If you haven’t managed to get all these good foods into you, as a runner, and then go and damage your muscles or strain or sprain ligaments and bones, then a food you can use to make a cream to rub onto the damaged areas, not eat, is comfrey cream. It’s almost like a miracle what comfrey can do for you. An article about how to make comfrey cream, and how to apply it, can be found here http://www.1pic4twenty.co.za/comfrey.htm
i think this will work for me because i am a runner.
yaaaaaaa.i think u are right. and this does help
1.) Nuts cause diarrhea even in small amounts when running(may vary from person to person).And they have 30-50% fat.
2.)good.
3.)good.
4.)Only if the fish is “clean”- uncontrolled industrial overfishing is one of the greatest idioties of the humankind. Its like eating all the grain we have, leaving none to plant for another harvest.
And besides, most of the needed protein can come from PLANTS! We dont neen more than 1-3 times flesh a weak, if anyway. Eat wholegrain bread or peas or beans or potatoes or…
They deliver more than enough!
–> my recomendation: “dark” wholmeal bread gives Polysaccarids in small amounts, but continuously! There´s no half-an hour energy peak (with much fat- building!) like with “white” Polysaccharids, like rice,toast,..So the liver an muscles have not to exployd their Glycogene amounts (which last some hours)-when you go running, you have enough energy.
AFTErWARDS you refill the Glycogene amounts in the muscles quickly with “white” polysaccarids like rice, potatoes,…
PLEASE no sugered “energy drinks” or other high-sugered stuff! You only get fat. The blood glucosis rises wuickly, and then falls even more quickly. The aim must be a “middle balanced” blood glucosis.
Dextrosis?Have tried it, got only some obscure digestive abnormalities (…). Gives much energy and may last some longer, but nothing for runners in dry form. Gelee perhaps.
But why doing it the complicated way? Just hold your glucosis balanced, works all right with bread.
oatmeal is great for pre-run energy. but can anyone tell me why i get an enormous headache 30 minutes after a run that lasts for 2 days? PLEASE!
Maybe because of a lack of potassium / hydration. Eat Bananas and see a doctor?
I liked this article. I play soccer and I’m very seriously considering starting running to increase my stamina, so this is definitely helpful.
Great post. Very educative.
‘Flat belly’ headlines are getting pretty ‘OLD’….they may sell magazines but it perpetuates the unrealistic expectations of/for women. I think HEALTH could be a little more conscious and stop w/ the ‘cheap tricks’ stuff which only works (IF it does ?) for 20-30 yr olds !!
I have yet to see a woman of color on one of your covers OR a woman over 35. Why not ? Good health applies to ALL of us.
Thank you.